Saga is an epic space opera/fantasy comic book series created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples, published monthly by Image Comics. The series is heavily influenced by Star Wars, and based on ideas Vaughan conceived both as a child and as a parent. It depicts two lovers from long-warring extraterrestrial races, Alana and Marko, fleeing authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their newborn daughter, Hazel, who occasionally narrates the series.

The hiatus is over and we are back to monthly issues of the best continuing series of 2015 – Saga! Another break and another time jump as we spend the majority of this issue with little Hazel as she adjusts to her life as a student in some strange school that seems to double as either a refugee camp or prison. I’m not sure. I just know that after she’s done making a fart joke in class, she runs into a community shower where she encounters a transgender character. Hazel was looking for her grandmother, but she almost ran smack dab into a dick in the shower – which just so happens to be attached to an interesting new character who also has breasts. Cool.

Saga isn’t a series that avoids controversy, usually it steers directly into it as hard as it righteously can. Which is why it’s the best of the best. This is one of the few series that I’ve been able to read monthly, one chapter at a time and not be driven crazy because every single issue packs a punch. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples deliver in each issue. This one is no different. It’s funny, see Hazel’s fart jokes, it’s sad, see little Hazel crying for her mother when we flash back to the events directly after the stunning issue 30 and it’s shocking – see that ending. Oh fart.

Oh fart indeed Hazel. We’ve been waiting so long to see Izabel too and thank god she’s back. I missed her. We all missed her and she’s terrific in this chapter. After so much sadness and death and sadness and more death — seeing Izabel back into the fold is a nice change of pace into happier territory. For now of course. We all know shit goes haywire in Saga. Staples is drawing the nuts off this book and issue 31 is no different. A pig doctor, grandma’s tats, the creepy insectoid teacher — if they ever adapt this into a series or film it’s going to make Guardians of the Galaxy look safe as hell.

With the next issue focusing on Hazel’s parents, I’m curious in which direction this arc will go — so far — we’re off to a great start. But did you really expect anything less from the best writer/artist duo in comics today?